Diversity

Dear All,

My name is Kevin vom Hagen and I have been a boxing coach for the association for several years. As of late, I have been appointed anti-discrimination officer for the USG Chemnitz. Some of you have already seen me during the department head meeting or at the Sports Festival, and many of you have already met me.

Why an anti-discrimination officer for the USG Chemnitz?

I have been dealing with several forms of discrimination for about seven years. During that time, I have learned that there is not one person who does not discriminate. Myself included. Contrary to what is generally believed, this is most often not because the person discriminating wants to harm someone. Most people are not even aware of any discriminatory behaviour. Discriminatory behaviour and ideas are picked up through socializing within the family, nursery school, school, training, studies, books, films, music, etc. It is, however, never called discrimination, it is called “the norm”, and partly even considered exemplary. This illustrates how widely spread and normalized discrimination is. It happens every day and everywhere around us. Also in sports. If you are not personally affected, it is often hard to recognize. When we do recognize discrimination, it is often difficult to respond in an appropriate way. However, when it happens, the reaction to discriminatory behaviour and solidarity with the victim are very important.

In order to make discrimination more visible and to counter it better, I would like to work on this subject together with you. We will not be able to create an environment in which there is no discrimination at all. But we can try for ourselves to create less discriminating situations, to recognize them better and therefore to react in the right way.
If we pursue a fundamental democratic idea, we must try to shape the environment in which we live in a way that makes it accessible to all, a place where everyone enjoys the same amount of freedom and can contribute to its development. This is only possible if we challenge the structures and behaviour patterns which (might) prevent this now.

What does this Kevin-person want from us?

Together with all of you, I would like to continue learning and to entrench a constructive dialogue on the subject of discrimination. In the time to come, I will therefore propose various projects to which I invite you all. As a first project, I would like to create a Mission Statement for the USG Chemnitz together with anyone who wants to join in. To this end, workshops will be organized at regular intervals over an extended period.
Each time we shall be tackling a different form of discrimination, such as sexism, racism or anti-Semitism. Each workshop intends to establish a joint formulation on the subject and will represent a section of our Mission Statement. Taking part in these workshops is not compulsory. I would rather like you to consider them an invitation to an exchange of views.
Anyone wanting to learn more and to participate in the process of creating the Mission Statement is very welcome.

In addition, to anyone wanting to create their own projects focussing on the subject of discrimination, democratization, communication and conflict management, I offer my full support. Do not hesitate to come to me if you need help or if you have any questions or simply want an exchange of ideas on the matter.

Support of affected parties

Apart from the prevention side of the educational process, I consider it very important to support the parties concerned and their environment. I would like to encourage anyone who experiences or notices discrimination to come to me. Data on the person who contacts me and whatever we discuss will be treated confidentially and not be shared with any third party without your permission. Whether and which measures will be taken, will be decided in close cooperation with the people involved. Any action is exclusively guided by the interests of the people involved.
Many people are riddled with doubt. They might ask themselves if the situation was really that “bad”, and tend to normalize what happened or to play it down. They wonder if they themselves could be blamed. They feel as if they are making a mountain out of a molehill.
Should you wonder if coming to me is the “right” thing to do: yes it is.
Please contact me. Without exception. Always.

Accessibility

You can reach me by e-mail at diversity@usg-chemnitz.de or via the contact form.
If you want to reach me anonymously, you can do so via the letterbox placed in front of the office on the Thüringer Weg.
All relevant information will be readily available here on the website:
www.usg-chemnitz.de/diversity.html

Kevin vom Hagen

Thüringer Weg 11
09126 Chemnitz
Telefon: 0371 531 190 30
Telefax: 0371 531 800 058

diversity@usg-chemnitz.de

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